The Pundit Caste
02/05/2020
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The ever-increasing share of pundits of South Asian descent got me thinking of the two meanings of the word “pundit:”

Google offers two related definitions of “pundit:”

pun·dit
/ˈpəndət/

noun
noun: pundit; plural noun: pundits
1. an expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called on to give opinions about it to the public. “a globe-trotting financial pundit”
Similar: expert, authority, adviser, member of a think tank, … guru

2. variant spelling of pandit.
Origin: mid 17th century (in pundit (sense 2)): from Sanskrit paṇḍita ‘learned man’, use as noun of paṇḍita ‘learned, skilled’.

Pundit (sense 1) is first recorded in the early 19th century.

What percentage of 21st Century pundits in America are descended from 17th Century pundits in India?

[Comment at Unz.com]

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